Myron shows us what is wrong with the Neanders “get tough on crime” ideology

Myron admits to his ignorance - and goes on to display it

(emphasis mine)
Myron Thompson (CPC): I have a difficult time debating with lawyers at the best of times because I am not one. They seem to use legal jargon to a great extent and I just cannot comprehend a lot of it. I quite often hear about reports from a person by the name of Nunn and other reports from the member and other members of her party, usually concerning the legal aspects...They like to hear the points of view of the legal beagles and they need to change their attitude.

Myron certainly does not have a high respect for the role of legal experts in shaping crime legislation. Shape crime bills but trivialize and minimize input from legal experts? There’s problem number one.

I also have a hard time understanding when the Liberals talk about prevention. There is no one who wants to see crime prevented more than me. It may not come across that way and I will have to do a little better job of communicating that maybe, but I do not understand it when members say we should get to the cause of crime.

“Not understand why we should get to the cause of crime.” That’s because, Myron, you are a fucking sociopath. That whole level of needing to develop social conscience in very young children, and continuing to help it develop until they become adults does not exist in your understanding of how human being develop, and why some turn out violent while others do not. You see, Myron, you would have to have a social conscience yourself to understand this.

Without a doubt, one of the biggest causes of crime are drugs and alcohol, particularly alcohol. How does alcohol get into the hands of young people under the age of 18? It is against the law. When is the last time we have heard of anybody being arrested or charged for providing liquor to a minor? When is the last time we saw police break up a block party or a house party that was full of booze and people under the age of 18?

Poor, poor Myron! How you must torture yourself at night wondering why these little bastards don’t just obey the law! You are asking the wrong questions, that’s why. It isn’t how the alcohol is getting into kids’ hands that is the most critical problem to solve, but why the kids choose to drink in the first place. That, you soulless pomposity, is a question dealing with prevention. If they are going to get alcohol, they already have the mind-set to commit a crime. Prevention is discouraging that mindset ever to develop and encouraging the desire to live as a socially responsible person.

When it is mentioned in committee or to witnesses that it is a major cause and ask what we are going to do about it, the Liberals do not want to go there. They want to talk about poverty being a major cause. I guess they do not realize that rich kids get into trouble as well. There are excuses for avoiding the real causes of crime and our penitentiaries are full of adults for the very same reasons.

You just don’t get it. Poverty, over crowding, exposure to violent media, a society that encourages the ridiculous accumulation of possessions but closes down literacy programs and fails to fund higher learning - these things lead to an ignorant, selfish, and very frustrated youth. So does cutting women’s programs which would enable better parenting and relieve some of the poverty.

I do not use the word “sociopath” lightly. This a common perception among many CONs - that prevention means stopping the actual crime shortly before it is committed, assuming we are all potential criminals and that fear of being punished by harsh laws is the only thing holding us back. That is in part because many of them hold to the old Judeo-Christian attitude of reward and punishment as main motivators for committing good acts. In reality, that, if offered alone in our justice system, encourages the type of sociopathic behaviour associated to youth crimes, and eventually, adult crimes because the underlying assumption is punishment delivered by the law is the only real consequence. If that punishment can be avoided, then there is little motivation to avoid the crime.

Early childhood development, choices offered in activities as a child grows, more time with reasonably educated parents, not struggling every day with poverty - these are some of the ways a child can develop and maintain a social conscience and sense of social responsibility. The CONs generally don’t seem to understand that part because they have been taught the reward and punishment system, a system that seeks to legislate and force decent, moral behaviour rather than develop the tendencies in children.